“Excuse Me, But Are You Raping Me Now?” Discourse and Experience in (the Grey Areas of) Sexual Violence

Gunnarsson, Lena

doi:10.1080/08038740.2017.1395359

Cited by 53 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Sexual violence or rape is generally scripted as a concrete experience clearly distinguished from normative sexual practice (Gash and Harding 2018;Gunnarsson 2018;Hindes and Fileborn 2020;Jackson 1978). This has been demonstrated, for instance, in experimental studies where participants were asked to describe what they believed to be typical seduction/ hookup and rape scenarios (Anderson 2007;Krahé et al 2007;Littleton and Axsom 2003;Littleton et al 2009;Ryan 1988).…”

Section: "Real Rape"mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We additionally investigated potential differences in how observers made sense of this encounter between a man and woman or between two men. We use the term "grey area" to refer to the vignette in our study, not as a pre-categorization of the event, but to indicate our expectation that the described encounter resists easy categorization in current-day discourses about sex and violence (Gunnarsson 2018;Hindes and Fileborn 2020).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Scripted Reality: How Observers Make Sense of a Non-consensual Sexual Encounter

Mulder

Olsohn

2020

Sex Roles

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Research on third party reactions to (transgressive) sexual encounters has frequently bypassed the question of how observers categorize such encounters as normal sexual experience, sexual violence, or potentially as something else. In the present study, we investigated the ways in which participants made sense of a nonconsensual sexual encounter between a man (i.e., the initiating party) and either a male or a female student (i.e., the targeted party). We specifically focused on how participants utilized sexual scripts and gender stereotypes to describe what happened and as a means of attributing responsibility to the actors. Using the Articulated Thoughts in Simulated Situations (ATSS) technique, 52 Dutch participants (26 men and 26 women) responded aloud to a vignette. Data were analyzed using discourse analysis as employed in discursive psychology. The findings demonstrated that participants constructed the event described in the vignette as normal while depicting the targeted party as abnormal and accountable. Participants strategically employed sexual scripts and gender stereotypes to describe the event as predictable and not serious and the initiating party’s actions as in little need of explanation. The targeted party was positioned as detached from this “objective reality” and was held accountable for neither following nor sufficiently breaking with the script. In consequence, the event was rendered nonthreatening. Our results illustrated the ways in which predominant discourses influence interpretations of encounters as transgressive or “just” sex, having important implications for those who seek to share their experiences of sexual violation.

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Section: "Real Rape"mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Scripted Reality: How Observers Make Sense of a Non-consensual Sexual Encounter

Mulder

Olsohn

2020

Sex Roles

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“…As an overall framework for understanding girls’ concerns about sexual activity, we find inspiration in the critical realist idea that there is an ontological dimension of experiences (objects of concern) which exceeds its discursive structuring. Thus, the object of moral judgements exists relatively independently of the judgements making these fallible (Gunnarsson, 2018; Sayer, 2004: 6). Thus, we may evaluate something as wrong at one point in time and then at another point evaluate it as acceptable.…”

Section: Dignity and The Dialectic Between Discourse And Experiencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, we may evaluate something as wrong at one point in time and then at another point evaluate it as acceptable. As Lena Gunnarsson (2018) has argued, our experiences are ontologically distinct from the discursive dimensions shaping these and this extra-discursive dimension may resist and shape discourses. Drawing on this philosophical understanding, we rely on two of Andrew Sayer’s concepts related to his theory of lay morality – moral sentiments and dignity (Sayer, 2004).…”

Section: Dignity and The Dialectic Between Discourse And Experiencementioning

confidence: 99%

‘I think in some way you’re afraid to lose your dignity maybe’: Exploring Danish girls’ concerns in relation to sexual activity

Johansen

Pedersen

Tjørnhøj‐Thomsen

2019

European Journal of Women's Studies

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This article explores the issue of girls’ concerns about sexual activity in a liberal Nordic context. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork among young people in Denmark, the article identifies three types of concerns girls can have about sexual activity: social expectations, relational expectations and dignity. Whilst contemporary research has tended to focus on the influence different sexual morality discourses have in shaping different expectations and concerns about these, little attention seems to be paid to girls’ normative concerns about sex related to well-being. This article sheds light on how these normative concerns are related to girls’ sense of dignity based on Andrew Sayer’s work on dignity and moral sentiments. Finally, the article argues that tension between sexual morality discourses and moral sentiments may be the source of resistance that girls practise with a new ‘fuckboy’ discourse.

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“…En beslektet kritikk argumenterte for at offerfokuset bidro til en diskurs om kvinner som svake og voldtagbare, og at denne diskursen bidro til å gjøre voldtekt til et større og verre fenomen enn det var (Marcus, 1992). I dagens teoretiske landskap er det flere som forsøker å forene innsikter om språkets kategoriserende makt for handlingsalternativer og situerte kroppslige erfaringer (Alcoff, 2014;Gavey, 2005;Gunnarsson, 2018). I tråd med Linda Alcoff (2014) forstår vi erfaringer som både kroppslige og som formet av historiske forutsetninger og kulturelle forestillinger, og vi deler videre hennes konklusjon om at vi fortsatt trenger å lytte til ofres erfaringer.…”

Section: Teoretisk Rammeverkunclassified

«Jeg ville jo si nei» – seksuell vold i parforhold

Bjørnholt¹,

Helseth²

2019

Vold I Nære Relasjoner

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Ved å ta utgangspunkt i seksuell vold som en sentral del av vold i parforhold tydeliggjør kapitlet kjønnsdimensjonen i partnervold. Gjennom et møte mellom normative forståelser av etiske seksuelle relasjoner og kvinners erfaringer med et spekter av seksuell vold utvikles en typologi for å begrepsfeste og fordype forståelsen av seksuell vold i parforhold. Teorier som begrepsfester seksuell vold i andre kontekster og relasjoner, viser seg fruktbare for å forstå vold i parforhold som kjønnet fenomen. NØKKELORD vold i parforhold | partnervold | seksuell vold | seksuell trakassering | voldtekt ABSTRACT By focusing on sexual violence as a central part of intimate partner violence (IPV), this chapter elucidates the gender dimension of IPV. Through a meeting between normative understandings of ethical sexual relations and women's experiences, a typology is developed to conceptualize and deepen the understanding of sexual violence in intimate relations. Theories that conceptualize sexual violence in other contexts and relationships proved helpful in understanding IPV as a gendered phenomenon.

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“Excuse Me, But Are You Raping Me Now?” Discourse and Experience in (the Grey Areas of) Sexual Violence

Cited by 53 publications

References 15 publications

Scripted Reality: How Observers Make Sense of a Non-consensual Sexual Encounter

Scripted Reality: How Observers Make Sense of a Non-consensual Sexual Encounter

‘I think in some way you’re afraid to lose your dignity maybe’: Exploring Danish girls’ concerns in relation to sexual activity

«Jeg ville jo si nei» – seksuell vold i parforhold

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